Hurricanes find new coach, staff

January 24, 2014

The Cape Coral Hurricanes settled on its coaching staff Thursday for the upcoming NPSL 4th Division U.S. Soccer season.

Roy Hill was named the team's head coach. Hill played professionally and started his professional coaching career in England before moving to the U.S. in 1998. Since then he has been a youth and young adult coach in the Tampa and Sarasota area where most recently he served as coach of the Clearwater Chargers Pre Academy.

Liam Farrell will be the team's assistant coach. Farrell was born and raised in Lee County and attended high school and played soccer at Cypress Lake in Fort Myers. After graduating from Belmont Abbey College, Farrell held various coaching positions until being named head coach for Catawba College in North Carolina where he spent four years before become athletic director at Island Coast High School in 2012.

John Damasco will stay on as the Hurricanes goalkeeper coach. He has been assisting since 2012 and was named head coach after an early season coaching change during the Hurricanes' inaugural season in 2013.

"We wanted to select a coaching staff that had strong, experienced backgrounds, but with similar coaching styles and a passion for developing players," said Hurricanes general manager J.P. Terrasi. "We wanted a staff that exuded quality character and who we truly saw being part of the organization for a long time.

"We have a coach with professional experience, a coach with extensive college experience and a coach that's been with the team for awhile. We basically have three gentlemen that all have head coaching experience. They are excited to work together and we're very lucky to have them all."

Hill began his playing career in the prestigious West Ham youth system where he also played professionally before a torn ACL injury forced him out of the game at age 21. He continued playing semi-professionally and first got the desire to coach as he served Chalfont St. Peter as player/coach.

"Hill is a dedicated, professional, well organized, enthusiastic and experienced coach." said Terrasi. "He not only coaches the game of soccer, but teaches the technical and tactical intricacies of the game while striving to balance personal growth and fitness in his players," Terrasi said.

"I am really excited to be joining the Hurricanes this season," said Farrell. "Having a diverse group like this is going to prove valuable for the players and the organization. I'm sure we will learn a lot from each other.

"I'm looking forward to working with Coach Roy and the other staff to build a regional powerhouse and a quality team that our community can invest in and be proud of for years to come," he said.